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SL Boys’ soccer falls to Brockton in playoffs

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The Silver Lake boys’ soccer team made a strong playoff run, but it came to an end last week. On Wednesday, Nov. 15, the Lakers fell, 4-1, to the Brockton Boxers in the Division 1 South Sectional semifinals at on the road at Marciano Stadium in Brockton. With the win, top-seeded Brockton advanced to the Div. 1 South finals, which was hosted at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School on Saturday, Nov. 10.

In their game against Brockton, Silver Lake fell behind by a goal eight minutes into the contest. This caused the Lakers to be more aggressive during the game. It also gave them a strong scoring opportunity with about four minutes left in the first half, but they were just shy of the score.

In the second half, Brockton started pulling away and took away the Lakers opportunity to make a comeback. Brockton put up three unanswered goals in the period to go up 4-0 but with a few minutes left in the game, the Lakers made their mark on the scoreboard. Owen Nally made it a 4-1 game, scoring a goal on a free kick. By that point, however, the Lakers did not have enough time to make a comeback, even though they were playing well.

The Lakers, who finished the season at 15-4-2, played well in the postseason. Their opening game against Durfee resulted in a 4-3 win on penalty kicks. In their next bout, they faced a Bay State League powerhouse, Braintree, and beat them 1-0. The win over Braintree in the quarterfinals got the Lakers to the Div. 1 South Semifinal game against Brockton.

Now that their season is over, the Lakers will lose nine seniors to graduation: defenders Brian Reilly, Michael Carey, Connor White, Casey Grindle, Keagan Nocher and William d’Entremont plus forwards Michael Donovan and Andrew Corcoran.

Lakers prep for Turkey Day game vs. rival Pembroke

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There is only one game left on the Silver Lake High football team’s schedule, but it also one of the most hyped up games of the season.

The Lakers have had a successful season. Through 10 games, they are 6-4 and they won a playoff game before falling to Milton in a tight game in the second round. Now, however, their focus is on the Pembroke Titans. Since Pembroke used to be a part of the Silver Lake school district, they became the Lakers Thanksgiving Day rival when they got their own school.

This has not been the Titans best year to date, at 2-7, but they have played some highly-competitive games against quality Patriot League Fisher Division teams. For example, they beat Scituate, 24-6, earlier in the season albeit Scituate made it to the Division 5 South finals. Their other win came against Westwood, who knocked Silver Lake out of the playoffs in 2016. Plus, their games against North Quincy, Plymouth South and Hanover were decided by three points or less.

Against Pembroke, the Lakers may be able to enjoy some serious success offensively. After all, Pembroke is coming off a 60-42 loss to Barnstable. In contrast, the Lakers beat Plymouth South, 49-28, last week.

History is also on the Lakers’ side in this one. Last year, the Lakers beat Pembroke, 40-20.

The game against Pembroke will be the final game of 19 Lakers senior’s careers: Tyler Duggan, Daniel Collins, Tanner Boyd, Michael Toledo, Nicholas Frieburger, Eamonn Irving, Ryan Murphy, Nicholas Webby, Phillip Lashley, Liam Kelleher, Thomas Landers IV, Kyle Griffin, Matthew Powell, Matthew Gallagher, Gavin Hamilton, Francis Perfetuo, Reed Grenon, and Nathan Thacker.

After this season, the Lakers team could look quite a bit different since their quarterback, top running back and many of their linemen are seniors this season.

This year’s Thanksgiving game is on Thursday, Nov. 23 (10:00 a.m. start time) at Pembroke High School.

New Full time Fire Dept. Members sworn

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Jessica Zeoli

Express correspondent

The board of selectmen met Tuesday, Nov. 14, beginning with the swearing in and pinning of new members of the Halifax Fire Department. Derek Coveney, Steven Enright, Richard Ferguson, Peter Hogan, and Dillon Riley were all recognized as full time members. Robert Beary, Reid Broderick, Kevin Heath, Evan McSherry, and Keith Pontes were recognized as call department members.

The meeting reassembled with members of HOPs to bring forth the idea of designated parking spots for library patrons at the public library. Currently, the lot is used for the park, library, and acts as an alternate lot for the fields behind the school. It was noted that the lot is being filled up before the opening hours of the library most Saturdays due to town sporting events on the weekends.

The board addressed issues of turf wars over the spots and that there is nothing set up to enforce those parking spaces. “Perhaps more spots within that lot could lower the issue or even a sign indicating another lot to use if full”, stated Selectman Troy Garron. The board was unable to come to a decision due to the potential plans of HOPS adding a walkway and benches in that area.

The finalization of an Eagle Scout’s project was announced, stating that two plastic benches to mimic wood are planning on being created for the Town of Halifax to enjoy.

The idea of a truck exclusion from Pine Street was considered by the board. The problem is that heavier trucks have been using Pine Street to cut off the intersection between routes 106 and 105, causing the bridge on Pine Street to begin to crumble due to the excessive weight. Residents of Thompson and Pine streets appeared before the board to explain their thoughts regarding this idea of the truck exclusion. The majority ruled it a bad idea since traffic would switch back to the intersection between route 105 and 106, creating traffic blocks and difficulty at the intersection. The board agreed to give the town surveyor their concerns and ideas of signs warning drivers of a weight limit, which will be addressed in the agenda on Dec. 12.

Members of Hudson Street also met before the board to state their concerns over the lack of speed limit signs in their area. Multiple families presented the fears and limitations they face due to speeding vehicles passing by each day. The suggestion of two “Thickly settled” or “30 mph” signs were brought forth by residents of Hudson Street which was quickly approved by the members of the board. Other notes regarding a “School bus stop” sign to be placed on the curve of Hudson Street and other concerns will be brought up to the Safety Department.

Thoughts regarding an emergency exit for the Town Hall were discussed, but no decision was made.

There will be a special town meeting on Nov. 20 regarding funding for HOPS.

The meeting ended with selectmen discussing the donation of vehicles from Davis Automotive to the Fire Department where they are used for the Jaws of Life training required for all members.

The next Selectmen’s Meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 20.

Housing Production Plan reaches draft stage

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A draft of Plympton’s housing production plan will soon be viewable on the town’s website, said Selectmen Chair Christine Joy at the Monday, November 13, 2017 Selectmen’s meeting.

The Housing Production Planning Committee used survey results so that residents could have a say in how more affordable housing should be implemented in Plympton.

According to Joy, 55.5 percent of survey respondents have lived in town for 20 or more years. However, only 27 of the 84 respondents were 65 years of age or older.

Joy said she’s been in communication with Council on Aging Director Joy Marble on how to help senior citizens have access to affordable housing. She went on to address how seniors in particular can be most vulnerable without affordable housing options.

When speaking with Marble, Joy mentioned that Marble could name three people off the top of her head who would be homeless by the end of the month without some sort of affordable housing option.

The Housing Production Planning Committee has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 15, 2017. A draft will be finalized for review at this meeting.

Joy said, “We’re going through the plan page-by-page on Wednesday.” The draft will then be shared with the Board of Selectmen. This will give Selectman John Traynor and Selectmen Clerk Mark Russo an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions. Once this is done, the housing plan will go to the Planning Board for review.

Fire/EMS Update

The Board of Selectmen said Municipal Resources Inc.’s (MRI) draft findings for the study of the Plympton Fire Department is still on schedule to be done by the first week of the new year.

Last week, Bob Loomer and Bob Craig from MRI visited the Town Hall and met with Board of Selectmen members individually. Certain department members were also updated by Loomer and Craig.

Projector Installed    in selectmen’s    meeting room

A high definition projector was installed in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room last Monday before the Selectmen’s meeting. The projector will be used for presentations at the Selectmen meetings and is visible on Area 58 community access broadcast for the public to see.

Ockers Company, a computer consulting firm based out of Brockton, installed the projector. Ockers met with and started planning the project with the Board of Selectmen back in September of this year.

Selectman John Traynor said he was very impressed with how fast and neat Ockers was with the installation. According to Selectmen Chair Christine Joy, installation and clean-up only took a few hours.

Silver Lake Regional School District Technology Director Steve Pellowe assisted selectmen in learning how to use the projector. Board members described the projector as easy to use and said they were very satisfied with its picture, and with how the projection doesn’t come from across the room, so someone standing partially in front of the board wouldn’t block the entire picture.

Pellowe’s assistance will be called on if needed going forward. The projector is the same model used at Dennett Elementary School.

Other Town News

• New Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy officially filled out her paperwork on Wednesday, November 8, 2017. Dennehy then was taken on a tour of the Town Hall and was introduced to department members and others from the community. She will officially start on Monday, Nov. 27.

• The open Assistant Assessor position was posted on the MAO website. The Board of Selectmen also would like to see the position posted on the town website, but said that’s ultimately up to the Board of Assessors.

The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Monday, November 20. Open session starts at 6 p.m.

Laker Girls Soccer tops Dartmouth

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On Monday night, the Silver Lake High girls’ soccer team started off their postseason campaign with a strong home win in the first round of the Division 2 South playoff bracket.

The Lakers, who had a lot of momentum granted the immense success they enjoyed for much of the regular season had one of their best games of the season as they shut down Dartmouth, 4-0. With the win, the Lakers improved to 15-4-1 on the season and advanced the their section’s quarterfinal against Notre Dame Academy.

The first half of the game was tightly contested since Dartmouth’s defense and goalkeeping were sharp. Due to this limitation, the Lakers were limited to one goal in the first half. This score came from Morgan Wohlgemuth off a strong pass from Melanie Coughlin. Other than that, however, the game was close in the first half. It also stayed that way for the first 15 minutes of the second half before the Lakers broke out.

With 25 minutes left in the contest, Hannah Vogt doubled the Lakers’ lead with her first of two goals of the game. Just a few minutes later, Holly Reeder-Morning scored her first goal of the game to put her team up by three, and Vogt kicked in the team’s final goal of the game with four minutes left.

Allie Crawford had four assists while Caity Smith had a strong performance in net. Smith earned the shutout in the win.

A major reason why the Lakers have enjoyed so much success this season is because they are such an experienced team. They have 13 seniors on their roster.

In order to prepare for the postseason, it helped the Lakers that they played some tough Patriot League competition during the regular season. They faced the likes of Duxbury, Hingham and Whitman-Hanson, all of whom made the postseason. 

Silver Lake Football falls to Milton

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The Silver Lake high football team was close in their last game, but they were unable to keep moving along the playoff bracket.

The No. 3 Lakers were met with a difficult challenge as they faced one of the best teams on the South Shore, the No. 2 Milton Wildcats in the Division 4 South Semifinal game on the road. Milton threw well and was able to beat Silver Lake, 20-14, in Milton last Friday night.

Milton struck first in the contest, throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead. That would not silence the Lakers, however, as they were able to strike back

Early in the second quarter, the Lakers put down a big hit on Milton’s quarterback. This caused a fumble which Lakers defensive lineman Matt Powell was able to pick up. The Lakers drove downfield for about three minutes and finally, Tanner Boyd ran in a QB sneak from a yard out with 6:23 left in the first half. He also ran in the 2-point conversion, giving his team an 8-6 lead.

In the third quarter, Milton enjoyed continued success with their no-huddle offense and had a 7-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to go up, 20-8. It was their second touchdown of the quarter. Late in the game, however, the Lakers started to rally back. They forced their opponent to turn the ball over on downs and on the seventh play of their new drive, Boyd ran in a 2-yard touchdown to put his team within six points with under a minute left to play.

This, however, would not give the Lakers a chance at a comeback. Milton was able to recover the onside kick and did a couple of quarterback kneels to run down the clock to zero.

Following the loss, the Lakers moved on to play Plymouth South on Thursday, Nov. 9 in a road consolation game. Now, their next game is at home on Thanksgiving against Pembroke (10:00 a.m.). 

Silver Lake “Get Pied” fundraiser benefits Breast Cancer research

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Last week Silver Lake students and staff continued raising funds for Breast Cancer.

The Key Club held its first annual “Pie Your Teacher in the Face” during the lunch block on Friday. Four staff members: math teacher Dan Coreia, social studies teacher Anthony Weber, assistant principal Steve Blette, and athletic director Martha Jameison, were selected based on fundraising by students.

Guidance counselors Andrea Cranshaw and Tracy Ryan entertained the lunch crowd in pink dinosaur costumes. Four students winning a raffle received the honor of being the pie throwers.

To raise even more funds, during the lunch block, Key Club Advisors Sarah Stefaniak (Math Teacher) and Jennifer Strid (School Psychologist) volunteered to get “pied” if they could raise an additional $25 during each of the four lunch waves. They had no problem reaching that goal!

 

Town’s emergency plans under review after storm

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Monday, Nov. 6, the Plympton Board of Selectmen and Fire Chief Warren Borsari reviewed the state of the town’s emergency preparedness following the unexpected tropical storm on Monday Oct. 30.

Plympton was able to handle the situation without having to call on outside help, but both Borsari and the Board agreed there are items that need to be addressed to improve the town’s emergency preparedness going forward.

One thing Selectman John Traynor mentioned was it was unclear whether the town house should have been closed on Monday, as it’s normally used as a warming shelter during these types of emergencies. Traynor asked Borsari who is typically responsible for opening a shelter.

Borsari said it’s the responsibility of the fire department to open these shelters and there also needs to be some sort of police presence at least outside the building. Both Borsari and the Board admitted there could be staffing or budget issues with this.

With these concerns in mind, Borsari mentioned utilizing the CERT program. CERT stands for Citizen Emergency Response Teams. Borsari described it as a “community oriented, civic-minded approach. According to Borsari, there are resources available to help Plympton incorporate the CERT program.

Another emergency preparedness suggestion came from Traynor. He said more text updates and social media alerts should help the community be more prepared for bad weather and allow them to know where emergency shelters are if needed.

Borsari said the police department already does reverse 911 calls for the fire department, but he said he was open to Traynor’s suggestions.

The wind ended up being worse than Borsari thought it would be. Borsari said there weren’t any extra people on staff; the department had on its usual two fire engines and two call cars.

Most of the town ended up losing power, and the fire department had to act in a situation they admit they weren’t fully prepared for. Borsari said the highway department was great and helped remove trees.

Plympton opened a warming shelter at the town hall on Tuesday, October 31, 2017. Most of the town had its power restored by Wednesday, November 1, 2017. According to Borsari, there were eight customers still without power Wednesday.

Chief Borsari praised the job that the town’s major electric supplier, Eversource, did handling the outages. He said, “In my opinion, Eversource did a very good job for us.”

Housing Production Plan Update

Selectman Chair Christine Joy said that the Housing Production Planning Committee reviewed its survey results. The committee used this survey in order to get community feedback on how to create more affordable housing in Plympton.

Joy said most of the survey results came from people in their mid-40s to mid-50s. The committee is also working with Council on Aging Director Joy Marble to get more input from senior citizens.

There’s a Housing Production Planning Committee Meeting on Wednesday, November 15, 2017. The committee plans to finalize a draft for its housing production plan at this meeting.

Other News

• The Plympton Board of Selectmen successfully negotiated a contract with Elizabeth Dennehy, who will become Plympton’s first Town Administrator. Dennehy’s first day will be Monday, November 27, 2017.

• According to the Board of Selectmen, Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI) will have its first draft of its operational study of the fire department in about 90 days. Before releasing the draft, MRI will do one-on-one calls with each member of the Board of Selectmen to discuss the state of the department.

The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. Open session begins at 6 p.m.

SL volleyball clinches playoff spot

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The Silver Lake high volleyball team’s persistence over the past few years paid off for them last week.

On the final day of the regular season, the Lakers got their 10th win of the season to improve to 10-10 on the year. Since they had a .500 winning percentage thanks to their 3-1 win over a struggling Scituate Sailors team on Wednesday, Oct. 25, they clinched a playoff spot in the MIAA Division 2 South bracket. It will be their first playoff appearance since 2011.

In the first set, the Lakers quickly fell behind, 4-0. But for the rest of the set, they were downright dominant. They went on a 6-1 run to take the lead and thanks to some strong serving from Michelle Vaughan (three aces) and Abigail Gallagher (four aces), they were able to win the set 25-10.

The Lakers also went down by a couple points in the second set before they flat out dominated once again. They ended up winning that one 25-12. Although the Sailors won the third set, 25-23, they could not overcome the Lakers. Silver Lake ended up winning the final set 25-15.

Sarah Russo (five digs), Kristin Heath (four digs), Gallagher (four digs) and Catherine Donovan (two blocks) were a few players of the many players who excelled defensively in the win.

It was a good day for the Lakers to clinch the playoff spot too since the win came on senior night–and the Lakers are a senior-heavy squad. This year’s team has strong leadership with seven seniors on the roster: Lauren Hamilton and Abigail Gallagher, Heidi Banden, Sarah Russo, Alyssa Nelson, Michelle Vaughan and Kristin Heath. Making it to the playoffs this year was important for the Lakers because of how much varsity experience this team had accumulated.

The Lakers have some momentum headed into the postseason. They won three of their last four matches of the regular season

Lakers Football wins first playoff game 20-18

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For the second year in a row, the Silver Lake High football team won a playoff game.

This time, they defeated Dighton-Rehoboth, 20-18, in the first round of the MIAA Division 4 South playoff bracket in the last minute of their bout last Friday night.

With 52 seconds remaining in the game, the Lakers were able to take the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Tanner Boyd. Following the score, there was not enough time left on the clock for their opponent to respond. Before Boyd’s touchdown, the Lakers did not lead at any point in the game.

The Lakers’ defense set up that go-ahead scoring drive. Dighton-Rehoboth had a 4th-and-1 on the Lakers’ 42-yard line with about three minutes in the game and, unsurprisingly, they went for it. They did not convert, however. Linebacker Matt Powell, one of the Lakers’ captains, came up with a huge tackle for a loss to give his team a shot at a winning drive.

In the early part of the game, Dighton-Rehoboth was in control. They scored on a 55-yard run in the first quarter. Later in the quarter, they took advantage of a Lakers fumble in the red zone and turned that into a scoring drive to go up 12-0.

The Lakers did not get shut out in the first half; with less than a minute remaining, Boyd threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Ohlson to make it a 12-6 game.

Midway through the third quarter, Dighton-Rehoboth intercepted the Lakers and ran in a 23-yard touchdown the next play. The Lakers nulled the score though since Diamini Williams returned the next kickoff for a touchdown. Boyd then threw a 2-point conversion pass to Ohlson, to make the score 18-14.

The Lakers move on to face Milton in the second round of the playoffs on the road (Friday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. start time).